


Rita’s Adventures in Babysitting

by motherbearof3



Category: Law & Order: SVU
Genre: Barson, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-03
Updated: 2020-03-03
Packaged: 2021-02-28 01:28:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,078
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22995481
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/motherbearof3/pseuds/motherbearof3
Summary: Lucy comes down with the chicken pox, forcing Rafael and Olivia to find a different sitter for Noah.
Relationships: Rafael Barba/Olivia Benson, Rita Calhoun/Odafin "Fin" Tutuola
Comments: 16
Kudos: 67





	Rita’s Adventures in Babysitting

**Author's Note:**

> I had a request for some fluffy Barson with some help from Rita and Fin and this was born. Takes place in present day SVU but is slightly AU in that the-episode-that-shall-not-be-named didn’t happen and our favorite ADA has risen in the ranks. He and Olivia have also been in a relationship for a while and are living together, so Noah has dropped the uncle title and calls him Rafa with as much affection as Olivia does.
> 
> Of course, none of these characters belong to me. I’m just grateful Dick Wolf lets me play with them!

Rafael Barba juggled his coffee cup and his briefcase in one hand as he put his phone to his ear with the other.

“Barba.”

“Honey, did you make dinner reservations for tomorrow night yet?”

“Liv, when you call me honey, there’s usually a problem that you want me to fix. And yes, I already made the reservations. Why?”

“Because Lucy has chicken pox.”

This had the Senior ADA stopping in his tracks, causing his hot coffee to slosh over his hand.

“Dammit!”

“That wasn’t exactly my initial reaction, but okay.”

“No, no, I spilled coffee on my hand. Did you say Lucy has chicken pox? Isn’t that something you get when you're Noah’s age? Or don’t? Isn’t there a vaccination for it?”

He stopped and put his briefcase and cup down on a nearby bench and pulled out his handkerchief to dry his hand and checked the front of his suit for any splashes.

“Typically, yes, but Lucy is in that age range where it may not have been required for school yet. Did you burn yourself?”

“I’m fine. So what you’re saying is she can’t watch him tomorrow.”

“That’s what I’m saying. You’re going to have to cancel the reservations.”

Confident he wasn’t wearing any of the brew, Barba tossed the cup in a nearby trash can. He’d get another cup when he got to work. Then he retrieved his briefcase and continued down the sidewalk toward the courthouse.

“Nope, nope, nope,” he told her, and she chuckled in his ear, making him smile in return.

“You sound like Noah, Rafa.”

“Well, I’m sure he’d agree with me that we’re not cancelling our reservations. Or selling the theatre tickets. He wants you to see Hamilton as much as I do.”

He had reached the bottom of the stone stairs of the courthouse.

“I’ll take care of getting another sitter, _mi alma_ ,” Rafael told her. “But I need to go now. Judge Barth waits for no one. Not even her favorite ADA.”

He heard Olivia sigh over the line and knew she’d agree.

“You know what it does to me when you call me that,” she said softly and his seductive laugh echoed in her ears long after he’d hung up.

Rafael had seen Hamilton three times before they were a couple and she’d expressed her desire to see it but had never had the opportunity. For Mother’s Day, he and Noah had presented her with not just tickets, but tickets to the performance in which Lin Manuel Miranda was reprising his role for one night. Olivia didn’t even want to guess how much they cost, because in typical Barba fashion, they were two of the best seats in the house and came with admission to the post performance cast party. She really didn’t want to miss it. But she wondered who he was going to get to take Lucy’s place.

*******

“Mom! Rafa says you’re gonna be late if you don’t --”

Noah turned to the man beside him, “How did you say it?”

" _Si tu mamá sigue comiéndose la mierda_ ," repeated Rafael. "You know girls, she's probably sending selfies to Aunt Amanda to see if her hair is okay."

“ _sigue comién--_ ,” began Noah, breaking off as he saw his mother. “Wow, Mom, you look gorgeous!”

“She certainly does, _mijo_ ,” agreed the man, putting a hand on the boy’s shoulder.

He took in the woman standing before him. Olivia’d told him she bought a dress for the event since the after party was black tie but wouldn’t tell him about or let him see it until now and it had been worth the wait. She wore a dark green satin dress that flowed over her curves like water to the floor. The neckline was modest, her arms were bare but when she did a little spin for him, his breath caught. The fabric draped from her shoulders to her waist, leaving her entire back uncovered. His appreciative eye noted the lack of panty lines as well. When she turned back around, the look in Rafael’s eyes made her offer a small seductive smile.

“I take it you like my dress?”

There was a knock at the door before he could answer.

“I’ll get it!” shouted Noah and ran for the door.

“Wait for me, _mijo_ ,” Rafael called. He stepped closer to Olivia and ran his fingertips down her back, before murmuring in her ear, “I’ll tell you just how much I like it in the car.”

Olivia shook off the goosebumps his touch had created and opened her evening bag to put her ID inside. Then she frowned and listened to the voices coming from down the hall.

“Rita?” she said when Rafael, Noah and Rita Calhoun returned to the living area.

“Hello, Liv. Nice dress.”

“You’re the sitter Rafa got?” 

The defense attorney bristled.

“Thanks for the vote of confidence, Captain.”

Olivia looked at Rafael.

“I thought you might have asked your mother.”

“She left on the cruise we gave her for Mother’s Day yesterday, remember?” Rafael said. “Listen, Rita is perfectly capable of watching Noah for a few hours.”

“Yeah, Mom. I’m not a baby,” echoed Noah.

“Liv, we need to go,” Rafael said. “Noah and Rita will be fine.”

“We will,” Rita agreed, making shoo-ing motions with her hands. “Go. Enjoy yourselves.”

The lawyer and the boy were fine. She made popcorn with lots of salt and butter and they watched silly reality television an hour past Noah’s bedtime. Then she made sure he brushed his teeth and tucked him into bed. Rita had replied to a few work emails then channel surfed before settling on a new episode of her favorite cooking show -- she couldn’t cook but loved to watch other people do it -- when she heard the boy’s voice.

“ _Tia_ Rita, I’m hot,” he said.

She turned and looked at him approaching. His cheeks did look flushed compared to when he’d gone to bed. When he stood before her, Rita reached out and put the backs of her fingers against his temple. It felt warm, even to her inexperienced hand.

“Does your mom have a thermometer?”

“Uh-huh. In her bathroom.”

“Show me where it is,” she instructed.

There were two: one oral and one temporal and both confirmed he had a fever of 100.5. Rita also found children’s pain reliever and fever reducer in the cabinet and after a consultation with the boy on how much he weighed, dispensed the correct amount in the medicine cup. Noah shuddered at the taste and she mentally sympathized, thinking nothing could possibly taste as good as the chewable baby aspirins of her childhood. After refilling the water bottle he kept at his bedside and had already emptied before coming to get her, she asked if he thought he could go back to sleep.

“I think so. Are you going to call my mom and Rafa?” he asked, fingering Eddie’s ear, the spot worn from years of the same. 

“Do you want me too?”

Rita smoothed his curls away from his sweaty forehead.

“No. I don’t feel bad, just hot. And they would have done what you did.”

“Okay.”

With a momentary burst of maternal emotion, the woman leaned over and kissed the same spot.

“If you start to feel bad, come and tell me.”

He nodded, his eyelids drooping.

Back in the living room, Rita debated sending the pair a text just to let them know. Then her phone chimed with a selfie of Rafael and Olivia at intermission, smiling happily. The accompanying note said Olivia was enjoying the show and looking forward to meeting the cast afterward. She decided as long as Noah didn’t get any worse, she would be able to handle it until they came home. About an hour later she went to check on him, and found him sitting up in bed, scratching his chest through his pajama top.

“Noah? Are you okay?”

“I’m itchy.”

“I’m going to turn on the light, so I can see, okay?”

“Okay,” he agreed, pushing the covers off his legs and scratching them as well.

After turning on the bedside light, Rita peered at his arms and saw a few red spots. She instructed him to pull up his top and frowned in alarm as she saw his small chest and stomach littered with them. She didn’t need to look at his legs to know there would be more there. Noah looked down at his skin and up at her with wide eyes.

“I have chicken pops, don’t I? Like Lucy?”

“Chicken pox,” the woman corrected, “but yes. I think you do.”

“What do we do?” Noah asked.

She pulled his small shirt back down and patted his shoulder.

“First you try not to scratch. I’m -- I’m going to call someone who will know what else to do,” she told him. “I’ll be right back.”

“Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck,” she muttered under her breath, walking quickly back to the living room and snatching up her phone. 

In moments, a familiar voice was answering,

“Hey, babe. How’s the babysitting gig?”

“He’s got chicken pox! What should I do? Rafi is going to kill me!”

“Chicken pox? Isn’t that what Lucy --”

“Yes, yes, Lucy has them. I’m sure that’s where he got them. I don’t know why he did; I’m sure he’s had the vaccine, but he’s definitely covered with spots that he says are itchy. Should I call Olivia? They’re probably at the cast party by now.”

“No. No need to disturb them. I’ll be right over and bring you some stuff. Does he have a fever?”

“Yes, but I gave him something earlier. That came on first.”

“Okay, good. Just breathe, babe. It will be fine,” the man on the other end of the line promised.

“Hurry?”

“I will.”

Rita ended the call and pocketed the phone. Then she took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. Then she smoothed her hair back from her face and tightened her ponytail. It would be fine, she told herself. Noah would be fine. Returning to the boy’s room, she sat with him and told him stories about her and Rafael in college; edited to G-rated versions of course. The boy was fidgeting and trying not to scratch when they heard a knock on the door.

“Finally,” Rita breathed. “I’ll be right back, buddy. Don’t scratch.”

When she opened the door and saw the familiar dimple and grin, she threw her arms around the man standing there.

“Odafin, I’m so glad you’re here,” she exclaimed, relief in her voice.

The SVU Sergeant held her close for a moment and pressed a kiss to her temple.

“Just doin’ my job, babe,” he replied. “Where’s your patient?”

“In his room. Back here.”

She led the way to Noah’s room.

“Uncle Fin! What are you doing here?” 

Noah smiled happily.

“Rita called me. I hear you got some spots.”

“Yeah, I’m pretty itchy. Can you make it stop?”

“We’re gonna try, bud.”

Fin held up the bag he’d brought from a 24-hour pharmacy.

“Let’s try a bath and then some lotion.”

He took Noah into the bathroom where he ran luke warm water in the tub and added a soothing, anti-itch packet of powder. 

“Climb in and soak for a little while,” the man directed.

The boy pulled off his pajamas and Fin noticed his back, bottom, and legs were now polluted with the blemishes.

“Uncle Fin!” Noah cried, his voice sounding alarmed.

“What’s wrong?”

“I have spots everywhere!”

“Pretty much,” the man agreed.

“No, I mean everywhere. Even on my -- “ he closed the bathroom door over, and lowered his voice, lest Rita hear him. “On my boy parts.”

Fin’s mouth twitched as he tried not to chuckle. 

“Yeah, that happens,” he told him. “Now get in the tub. That should help. And try not to scratch.”

While Noah soaked in the water, Fin joined Rita in the living room. She was holding her phone in her hands, debating whether to call her former classmate.

“How is he?”

“Itchy and a little shocked he has chicken pox on his balls.” Fin chuckled.

“Poor kid,” Rita said and Fin nodded sympathetically.

“Rafi’s going to kill me. Liv too. She didn’t want me to watch him.”

The man sat down beside her on the couch and put his arm around her shoulder.

“Babe, there’s nothin’ you could have done to prevent -- or cause this. He was exposed to them before Lucy knew she had them. No one had any way of knowing he’d get them.”

Rita leaned against him and sighed.

“If you say so.”

“I say so. What time did they say they’d be home?”

“I don’t know. Why?”

“Do you want me here when they get here? Since they don’t know about us?”

The lawyer shifted to look at him more fully and put a palm on his chest. 

“I think maybe it’s time.”

Since the pair didn’t technically work together, they didn’t need to formally disclose, but since they started dating, Rita, more than Fin, had been concerned about the optics if she defended someone and he worked on the case. She didn’t want there to be any perception that the SVU sergeant hadn’t done everything he could for the victim or provided her information that would work in her favor. He assured her he would never do that and that Olivia would never allow him to do that, but Rita had been reluctant to make their relationship public. Fin ducked his head to kiss her lips and would have continued kissing her but Noah’s voice reached their ears.

“Uncle Fin, the water’s cold! Can I get out?”

“I’m comin’ Noah,” he called back.

After drying off the boy, he and Rita were dotting him with calamine lotion when she heard the apartment door open.

“Shit, they’re home.”

“Babe, the pox weren’t going to go away before they got home. I'll finish here.”

Rafael was calling her name and she hurried out of Noah’s room.

“Hey, how was everything? Did you love it? Did you get to meet Lin Manuel?” she asked.

“Yes and we did!” Olivia gushed like a fangirl. “We got a picture with him too.”

Rafael smiled indulgently at her and pulled at his bow tie to release the knot and unbuttoned the top of his shirt. His smile faded as he saw Noah coming down the hall. He was re-dressed in fresh pajamas, but the exposed skin of his arms, neck and a few spots on his face were now sporting the pink lotion.

“Noah, _mijo,_ why are you up -- “

“And why are you covered in calamine lotion?” finished his mother, lifting her skirt so she could crouch down in front of him as he reached her.

“I caught Lucy’s chicken pops,” he explained calmly. “But _Tia_ Rita and Uncle Fin took care of me. She gave me medicine ‘cause I was hot and then I had a bath in oatmeal, not the kind you eat and now I’m all pink.”

The boy held out his arms in exhibit.

“Uncle Fin?” Olivia looked puzzled.

“Pox,” the man in question corrected the boy as he sauntered down the hall in Noah’s wake. “Hey, Liv. Rita wasn’t sure what to do when she saw the spots, so I came over to help her out.” He nodded at Rafael. “Counselor.”

“Sergeant.

“Hi, Fin,” said Olivia and took Rafael’s hand to stand back up. “You can tell me more after someone is tucked back into bed. It’s late. Say thank you and good night to Fin and Rita, sweet boy.”

“Thank you and good night,” Noah parroted and then yawned widely.

His mother steered him down the hall with a gentle hand on his shoulder.

“I’ll be right back,” said Rafael, with a pointed glance at his former classmate and the sergeant. “Don’t go anywhere you two.”

The man followed mother and son to Noah’s room. A glance in the bathroom confirmed Noah’s statement about the bath. Olivia was pulling the covers up when he arrived at the boy’s bedside. He perched on the opposite side of the mattress. 

“You okay, _mijo_?” he asked, brushing the curls off Noah’s forehead and noticing he still felt a little warm. The boy nodded sleepily.

“Yeah. I’m not hot anymore and not too itchy.”

“All right. You come get Momma and me if you need us.”

Rafael picked a spot that wasn’t covered in calamine and kissed his face gently. 

“Sweet dreams.”

Olivia repeated the action.

“Good night, my love.”

“‘Night, Momma. ‘Night, Rafa.”

The couple returned to the living room where Fin and Rita were sitting on the couch.

“I’m sorry, Rafi. Liv. I should have called you as soon as I took his temperature,” Rita said.

Olivia waved her hand dismissively as she sat down and pulled off her heels with a sigh of relief. 

“It’s fine. You did fine, Rita. He barely feels feverish and the bath and lotion seems to have helped the itch for a while anyway.”

“Liv’s right,” echoed Rafael, shrugging out of his tuxedo jacket. “What I’m more interested in is this.”

He pointed his finger at her and waggled it back and forth between the pair and swore he saw a blush creep up the other man’s complexion. Grinning a little, he raised an eyebrow and perched on the arm of the chair Olivia was sitting in.

“How long?”

“Six months next week,” said Fin.

“Six months? And you didn’t tell me?” Rafael pretended to look hurt.

“How did I not notice?” Olivia asked.

Fin offered a smug smile and stretched his arm out behind Rita, pulling her close.

“Wasn’t UC for years for nuthin’.”

They all laughed and Olivia and Rafael exchanged looks. They were both glad the couple opposite them were happy together. Then Rafael grinned.

“Since you two work so well watching Noah, you can do it again. Lin invited us to a preview of his new movie next month,” he said. “But now I’m kicking you out so I can take the woman I love to bed before Noah wakes up scratching again.”

Rita made a small gagging noise and rolled her eyes. But Fin stood and took her hand to pull her to her feet. Two could play that game.

“That’s okay. When I was gettin’ the stuff for Noah, I picked up some bubble bath. C’mon, babe. Let’s go get wet.”

The other couple’s laughter followed them out of the apartment.

**Author's Note:**

> Many thanks to Hasbleidy for helping with the Spanish. 😘 What Rafael says loosely translates to “shooting the bull” or “bs-ing”. Hence his additional comment about Olivia sending selfies to Amanda. 
> 
> Also, I just didn’t like the sound of Aunt Rita and since she’s one of Rafael’s oldest friends other than Alex and Eddie, it felt right for Noah to call her Tia.


End file.
